


One Big Happy Family — *Appa's Outtakes*

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: One Big Happy Family [15]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (get it? Because bisons are fluffy), Fluff, Gen, Precious Aang (Avatar), Western Air Temple, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, literal and figurative fluff, shameless fluff, that's all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27536530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: Zuko's a little out of place with Team Avatar, but at least the bison likes him.
Relationships: Aang & Appa (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Appa & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: One Big Happy Family [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011
Comments: 14
Kudos: 322





	One Big Happy Family — *Appa's Outtakes*

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little snippet I actually had completely written four months ago, that I cut out of the Appa & Momo story, and then just sort of left in a journal and forgot. Oops.

Zuko can hear the others laughing and talking from his room. It's irritating, knowing they're right there, yet after all he's done to get here he still isn't permitted to be near them, or even in the same room. It's thirteen and too young to be in the war chamber all over again, his mind says, and while he immediately shoots the thought down (because really, it's a stupid comparison, this is nothing like that) he acknowledges the truth behind the thought.

Being left out _sucks._ And this time there's no Uncle to sneak him in. 

_Well, look where it got you **that** time you went where you didn't belong. It's for the best._

He watches the stars appear in the sliver of sky visible above the cliffs, and hears the talking turn to singing, and awful jokes (most likely from the Waterbender's brother) (Zuko _really_ needs to learn these people's names), and feels more and more left out, his head growing achier with each peal of laughter outside. 

He sits on the rim of the window, legs dangling over the chasm below. When he came here the first time, years ago, he couldn't stand being too close to the edge — so of course, he did it as much as possible, because he wasn't going to let weakness get the upper hand again. Now he's had enough practice balancing on the peaks of roofs, over wells tens of feet deep, at the top of bamboo ladders pole-vaulting over walls on the Avatar's back —

 _Agni,_ Zuko's life is _weird._ But he's at least gotten over his fear of heights. 

He's seized with the sudden impulse to go and look around. Get out of the confines of the tiny, bare room. He's been locked up enough — on the ship, in the palace. And it's been three years since he's been here. 

He slips out of the window, dropping down several feet to the path he knows goes past the window. He follows it down the cliff face.

Zuko finds the room he remembers best from his first time here; an open, airy structure, almost cave-like, where the wind blows leaves onto the floor and carved characters on the walls spell out what he can only assume are the names of animals that lived here. He liked this room best when he first came here — there were no bodies in this room. The only room that didn't serve as a reminder of his great-grandfather's actions, putting treasonous thoughts of _this is wrong_ into a thirteen-year-old's head.

There's a bison here now. 

Zuko's pleasantly surprised by this, because not only does he now have some company in this eerie, lonely temple, but it's also a giant, furry animal that _isn't_ going to eat him, and seems fine with his presence. There's at least four positives in that sentence. 

He approaches carefully, hands outstretched in front of him. He's shaking, and wishes that would stop. 

"Easy, boy," he whispers as he gets closer to the bison. He reaches into his bag, withdrawing the pear he has left over from breakfast. He holds it out to the bison. It's a ridiculously small amount of food, he knows, but knowing the Avatar, he's sure the bison has already been fed. 

The bison takes the fruit from his hand, snorting. His breath blows Zuko's hair back, and he smiles. 

"I bet you feel right at home here, huh?" he says. He feels a little stupid talking to a bison, but he'd also feel stupid standing there and doing nothing, and he'll take one stupid over the other. Awkward silence is worse than awkward, one-sided conversation. Besides, who's going to hear him? The bison?

"I've been here before," he continues, sitting down with his back against the bison's side and running his hand through the long fur. "A few years ago. I guess you would have still been in the ice. Not a whole lot has changed around here."

He pauses, plucking a burr from the bison's coat. "It's probably been a while since you've been groomed, huh? Ty Lee told me about finding a ton of your hair in a river, but that was back in spring. It's been a while."

The bison groans, turning his head. Zuko smiles. 

"Hey, I'm not judging. I've probably got things stuck in my hair too. I'll try and get this stuff out of yours." 

He sits there for a while, pulling grass and leaves out of the bison's fur, until the moon's in the sky and the laughter and talking from the courtyard finally stops. Zuko realizes how late it must be, if even those nocturnal maniacs are asleep, and stands up. 

"I should go. Night, bison." He feels like the bison probably has a name, but at the moment he's a little too tired to think of it. He makes for the doorway, patting the bison's nose. The animal flinches backward, eyes wide, and Zuko's suddenly conscious that his hand is probably a lot warmer than the bison's used to. 

"Sorry," he mutters, backing quickly out of the room. He runs back up the path, climbing up to his room. He can still hear the others, snoring and muttering in their sleep, a few whispers from those who are still awake. He climbs into his bed, wrapping his cloak around himself. There's still bison hair all over him, but he's really tired and can't be bothered to remove it. He barely has time to lay down before he's asleep.

(~•~)  
  


Zuko wakes up underneath a giant bison's leg. 

He's fallen asleep in weirder, more uncomfortable places, but that doesn't mean he enjoys finding himself smushed against the floor with a bison on top of him. Even if it's just _part_ of the bison. 

He decides he definitely does _not_ enjoy it when he stands up and discovers the Aanghas invaded ~~his~~ the bison's sleeping space, using his airbending to move leaves into a pile in the corner. Zuko's not sure where the leaves are coming from, since it's summer, but he's not going to judge. It's not important, anyway. They may have gone to an extinct civilization and learned the secret of firebending, but that doesn't make it any less _weird_ for him to be found cuddling with Aang's bison who probably doesn't even like him. Nobody else seems to, anyway. If word gets out, ~~_Katara_~~ _~~Sokka~~_ someone will find a way to twist it and make him a target of even more suspicion. 

He watches, trying to figure out if _Aang_ has spotted him yet. He tarries for a second too long, and in that second Aang turns around, and it's too late to escape now. 

(~•~)

"Zuko!" Aang exclaims with a wide smile. "I was wondering when you'd wake up, it's pretty late. I guess the sun probably doesn't reach in here as well as in your room."

Zuko just stares at him, looking very much like he'd rather be somewhere else. Aang's fairly certain Zuko never meant to fall asleep here in the first place. 

_Well, when you've hit rock bottom, only way to go is up!_ Aang thinks, pushing aside Toph's snide remarks when he'd said that last night. 

"I'd wondered who was feeding Appa at night. Figured it might be Momo, but Momo hates pears."

"How'd you...?" 

Aang points across the stable, and Zuko trails off, his gaze following the line of his finger to the pile of chewed-up pear cores in the corner. 

"Yeah, they get stuck in Appa's teeth a lot," Aang explains. "It's kind of hard getting them out of his mouth. We usually take turns doing that."

Zuko just nods, and Aang can guess he's trying to figure out a response. Finally, after an agonizing minute of awkward silence, he grumbles, "Do you ever _groom_ him?"

Aang isn't really sure how to respond to that. "Well, Sokka or Toph usually clean between his toes," he says after a few seconds. 

"There's a ton of stuff stuck in his coat. Is there some way to, I don't know, brush it out?" Zuko gestures toward Appa, raising an eyebrow (though in hindsight, he could have been raising both and Aang wouldn't know, 'cause he only really has one). 

"Of course there's a way," Aang answers. "We haven't been here that long, though, and I'm not sure where the bison brushes are. I've been a little more focused on learning firebending, remember?" 

"Oh. Right." Zuko turns pink. "I might be able to help, I'm pretty good at finding things. What do bison brushes look like?"

"They look a little like push-brooms, but the bristles are stiffer and curved and set further apart." 

Almost before he's done speaking, Zuko's running out the entrance. Mere minutes later, he comes back with not one, but _four_ bison brushes in his arms. 

"Wow," Aang says, impressed. "You really are good at finding stuff."

"Lot of practice," Zuko mutters. He looks at Aang, and Aang realizes it was supposed to be a joke. Aang laughs, partly to make him feel better and partly because it's actually pretty funny. 

He moves to pick up a brush, but Zuko steps in front of him. 

"Firebending practice first," he says, in his stern Teacher Voice (which isn't much different from his regular voice).

Aang frowns, but concedes, "Fine..."


End file.
